Switching to SuperTab; A new Crichton thriller, WHAT?!

Ever since I started using Vim as my primary browser, I have been using
YouCompleteMe as the completion plugin.
It works fine, it is annoying because it tries to autocomplete everything
and sometimes that gets in the way of navigation using the arrow keys. In any
case, I was fairly happy with the plugin’s performance because it never really
slowed down my editing experience. Until a couple of weeks ago.

That was when I saw that the editor just hung for some amount of time, and it
was really trying to find suggestions for the word I was typing. This was really
hampering the time it took for me to actually write code. And thus, I set out on
my search for a better plugin.

One thing about YCM that is slightly irritating is that it has a compiled
component. This compiled component doesn’t build on computers that have less
than 1 GB of RAM (Looking at you, $5 a month Digital Ocean droplets.)

I tested neocomplete.vim. It doesn’t
have a compiled component and has some really extensive configuration options.
That include using <CR> as the key to confirm suggestions. That was rather
pleasant, perhaps when I have a computer with more RAM and a better processor,
neocomplete would be the option. (It is most certainly better than YCM, simply
the lack of compiled component ensures that!)

Coming back to my own quandary, I found this new set of completion plugins that
show you suggestions but work on pressing the TAB button. It’s pretty
interesting, and I started using
SuperTab. I am still reserved about how
useful it is, perhaps I will report again after a few weeks of use.

I have also just started reading Dragon Teeth - Michael
Crichton. It’s
really surprising that a new Crichton book was released less than a month ago,
seeing as Crichton himself died in 2008. I haven’t read up on the history but I
guess this manuscript was discovered. I am about 50% through the book (one 5
hour train journey ensured that!) and it’s been riveting till now. The strange
antiquated habit of journaling really takes on a life of it’s own throughout the
book (as most of the narration is either the experience itself or what one of
the characters recorded in their journal).